Sunshine
by Spyrkle10
Summary: Kairi gets a little lost after the Keyblade War. Trapped, she wanders with a warped body and heart, vanquishing darkness. But Kairi is the sea, and she reflects the land and sky. They're always close by, even if they're far away. Oneshot.


Her eyes were not quite blue; green shone through, like a poisonous secret no one dared to breathe aloud. Her mouth was not quite smiling; it was open, it was turned upwards, but her eyes were glass and her hair was far too soft, her skin was far more like a doll's than it should have been. The child ran, following the road; her feet bare, shoes now too large, her head bare, her armor not fitting; clothed only in rags from worn sign.

She had called for help, sobbed into her only comfort, her only way to escape, yet it was silent, like a firefly. Comforting, but not quite there. A soft presence. Yet still she had to go on. They were somewhere, she knew. She knew from when her face had been wrinkled with stress and despair, when her eyes had been faucet water and dust. When her hair had been dull and tangled from neglect. When her clothes had been remnants of lost souls and her skin pale like a ghost, for she was one; light can be extinguished if there is no shadow, for light without a shadow isn't truly light at all.

So now she was fighting a war she could no longer see, alone for once, trapped for once. The people she met were vicious; the children she met were twisted; the beasts she met were no Beast, and the monsters she met were Heartless, Unversed, Nobodies; when she slept, Dream Eaters haunted her; on and on forever. Her predecessor had met the same fate. The girl with not-enough-light had fallen into the Realm of Darkness. She had escaped. Kairi did not know if she could.

Her Keyblade was far weaker, like her body; her very heart had regressed. Yet the memories stayed, clinging to friends lost and companions breathing. They were likely gone now, like her; had whatever possessions she'd left behind been buried in her honor? Did they still pray for her, wishing for her return? She could not know, trapped here. Great darknesses, powerful as Xehanort's Heartless, rose up, yet she defeated them swiftly. Heartless rallied, yet they perished at her blade. Yet still her legs were thin, her chest frail.

Years turned to decades. Decades to centuries. Soon, millennia had passed. She still struggled on. She had stopped crying when her Keyblade had begun to flicker. If her heart wavered, she would fall. She had to live on. For Sora and Riku. Their names were _hers_. She breathed them, wrote them, sang them. Colors and images dissipated, but feelings of warmth – so long since she'd been truly warm – echoed when she repeated them. Her mantra become those names, her skin still porcelain, her hair soft, her eyes glassy and far too green. Eventually she found a tank top and shorts. Sometimes, in between the waves of endless foes, she would swing her legs back and forth on a rock by an ocean, any ocean, and think of shells and star-shaped fruit in a nameless place she couldn't remember.

She'd forgotten a lot of things. When she was truly a child, she could have recited the names of all the shells in her little collection. Now her collection was just one, another nameless thing. It was like a Nobody; never meant to exist. It was a small, purple creation; it reminded her of sand and waves and, sometimes, a lonely little girl with blonde hair and a watery smile. Kairi wouldn't go near pencils anymore. She almost never spoke. Her voice was a high-pitched chime, mixed with the moan of a mourner and the sob of a wallflower. It was the sound of blood. Of anger. Of despair. Of hope. Her own voice was frightening now.

Humming distracted her from the pain, when she was fighting. There was no one to cast Cure; no Axel ( _It's L-E-A. Got it memorized?_ he would say, before there were Saix's fingernails digging into his face, ripping his skin) with potions and ice cream. It was just her, a woman trapped as a child. A child forced to become a woman. Humming a tune so nostalgic, like a crush so important that was now humorous. She only recalled snatches of it. A puzzle with only one piece, and no reference.

She never knew where she was. The place was bright, it was dark; the sky was blue, the sky was gray. The people were constant. She'd ask if they'd seen a man with spiky hair, brown in spite of sheltering so many others within, or his friend with silver framing a face with eyes the same color as hers now were. But there was never a response, only confused silence. Kairi moved on. They were somewhere. Somewhere in this horrible place.

She would see them while walking down a street now. Sora and Riku, reaching out for her. They were transparent, soundless apparitions. She hugged them still, when she could. It was becoming easier to keep the memories that flowed in and out of her, leaking out of her broken self. But they, and the pain, always came back. A dog and their master.

Today, the hallucination of Sora had spoken to her. His voice was sunshine and strength. It was bliss. She'd lost her arm or the distraction, but it would grow back. She could not change her appearance. Her hair never grew, she never hungered. If she filed her fingernails, they would return to normal by the next day. She hummed out of joy, rather than despair. Sora had told her they would find her. It would never happen, but it was nice to dream.

Kairi closed her eyes. She still needed sleep, sometimes. As she drifted into slumber, two hands reached out, grabbing her arms. Too exhausted to care, she ignored the pain of her body expanding and the agony of her heart being mended. When she woke up, it was to banners and confetti.

"S—soooo…" Kairi stammered, her voice back to its normal tone; a mixing of sweet chocolate. "Sora. Sora… Riku…" Kairi whispered. Her friends grinned. She recognized this place now. Destiny Islands. Her home. She was home. "I love you." Her arms squeezed them both. She needed them both. She needed sunshine and bright moons. Sora and Riku hugged back.

Kairi was their reflection; no matter what she'd been through, they would bring her back whole. She was their everything. And they were hers.

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 **I… have no idea how this happened. I was recreating Kairi in Skyrim, and I made a child and adult version… so I started imagining them switching back and forth, like I was doing to make adjustments. And then I realized that it would be a good oneshot. So now it is.**


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